Distance
by CellarGangGirl
Summary: Annoyance can only travel so far. Seventh-year Lily ponders the Marauders from a distance. Rated for a half-nude James Potter. Read, enjoy, review!


AN: No idea where this one came from, really. Just kinda sparked in my head, and here it is. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I still maintain that Harry Potter is not, has never been, and probably never will be, mine. I just write songs and fanfiction about it. And occasionally draw some fanart. There'll be a link to my devART page on my profile soon, if you want to see that.

It was a beautiful day on the campus of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. One Lily Evans, a student of the school, really should've been enjoying the warmth of the sun more, relishing in the light winds that whipped the ends of her auburn locks about.

Resting peacefully with her dormmates under an ancient tree, you'd think that she was having a lovely time; possibly, she was about to fall asleep. However, not far from the girls' resting place was a group of boys. Four boys, so distracting simply because they _were_ those four boys. The four boys, the gang. The Marauders. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. In nearly every boy's mind - excluding those who were overly ambitious - they were the pinnacle of life; they were what was to be. Everyone either wanted - or wanted to be - them.

Lying on her side, she contemplated them. Currently, the boys were splashing around, playing at the edge of the lake. She spotted the giant squid out a bit further, probably staying away because of the boys' commotion. Normally, they were bothersome little manace's to her, pulling pranks on her here and there, or asking her out for James.

Most days, Remus Lupin seemed to her the only decent one in the group. Mind you, she didn't fancy him or anything like that. However, he was pleasant to her and had only asked her out for James once; he'd seemed very embarrassed to be doing so as well. Aside from these extremely redeeming qualities, he was a clever wizard, their grades on par with one another. On the odd occurence when she would come across him alone in the library or common room, they would chat about classes until one of them had to leave or the other Marauders showed up to whisk him away.

Peter Pettigrew was, surprisingly, the near opposite of everything the other three were. He was not particularly smart, he was nothing near pureblood, and he wasn't exactly the most handsome boy at Hogwarts. Whereas the others were handsome, outgoing, charming and witty, Peter was a bit introverted and tended to be a follower. She wondered what he had done to befriend people who were so different from himself. He was kind enough to her, though, and stayed a bit in the background when James and Sirius poked fun of Slytherins. His jokes were not really that funny, though, so that might be why.

Sirius Black. Sometimes, Lily felt extremely saddened by his family situation. However, most days he managed to annoy her out of this empathy, pestering her to date his best friend and playing tricks on her. His family had disowned him and he now lived with the Potters. She felt disgusted everytime he and his younger brother, Regulus, ended up in the same hallway as her. Sparks flew as wildly as insults, and generally fists were thrown into the mix soon enough. Just last month, a third year Hufflepuff had ended up with a particularly nasty hex placed on her simply because she had been standing somewhere off behind Sirius when his Slytherin brother had missed. Since that battle, Lily had taken to redirecting Sirius if she heard of a possible confrontation between the brothers.

Finally, her eyes fell on James Potter. Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, and Head Marauder. The boy's unruly hair tossed about in the light wind, his glasses glinting in the sunlight. He was splashing water up into Peter's face; the boy spluttered, wiping it away with his hand before kicking water back at the other boy. Lily sighed, picking at the grass as she watched them. James had changed a lot since they'd first met. He'd started asking her out in the most embarrassingly public ways almost immediately, and hadn't stopped until the end of last year, when the thing with Severus had happened. Instead of embarrassing her further, he spent the end of their sixth year either playing more harsh, embarrassing pranks on the boy. He'd only asked her for a date a few times this year, and none of these were very public affairs. Although, Sirius still embarassingly propositioned her - it seemed to be more of an acquired habit than the fact the James was asking him to. In fact, she'd noted a couple days ago that he'd glared at Sirius for one of his more elaborate methods of asking. She watched him; he was going to sit beside Remus - he was reading under a tree a bit away from the shore.

Taking off his soaked shirt, he set it in the sun to dry before joining Remus. They chatted for a few minutes, and Lily wondered if they were maybe talking about whatever book Remus was reading. James lay in the grass beside his friend, and she was momentarily stunned by his glistaning muscles. They were just another thing he prided himself on, and she could see why. The years of Quidditch had done well by him. He was smart, strategic, and nicely-muscled - how could any girl not fall in love with that. So really, Hestia should stop her teasing about Lily's recent infatuation with him. She'd noticed the change in his attitude one day in Potions, when he'd warned her just in time for her to duck away from a Slytherin girl walking by, who 'accidentally' dumped some of her potion - they were practicing a potion that gave one horrible, itchy boils that particular day - where Lily had previously been standing. The girl had glared back at James and continued on towards the front of the room. They boy didn't notice her glare, as he was much too busy noticing Lily's awkward stare.

The point was, she'd noticed his drastic change in attitude. She wondered often if it was for her, because of how she'd been after the incident with Severus, or some completely different. She knew his father had died the summer before their fifth year, but that had been so many years ago and had definitely not granted a reaction like this. So it couldn't be indicative of trouble with his mother - she was pulled out of thoughts as Sirius ran past, shaking water in her direction. She flinched back as Peter did the same, and watched, annoyed once more, as James and Remus passed as well, neither doing anything to atone for their friends' behaviour. She 'humph'ed, rolling over to face the other girls. Casting one last glance over her shoulder as they disappeared into the castle, she sighed again.

Up close, they annoyed her beyond all bounds. From a distance, though, they were stunning.

AN: One of my shorter works. Hope you enjoyed; please review!


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